Learning About Literacy!

November 4, 2022

Dear Florence Roche Families,

Happy November!  It’s hard to believe we are at this point in our year.  The warm days feel more like late September.  I hope everyone has some outdoor activities planned for the beautiful weekend ahead.  I have some more leaves to clean up and a bit of exterior house painting to do, but I plan on having some outdoor fun as well.  Don’t forget to set your clocks back on Saturday night.  I guess the extra hour of sleep is a bonus, but I really don’t like the earlier sunsets.

Catch up on the November edition of the FloRo News Report.  This student created news report is full of exciting information from the halls of Florence Roche!

As a reminder, next Tuesday, 11/8 is a voting day across the Commonwealth.  Our middle school south is a voting site for the Town of Groton.  Please be prepared for additional traffic both vehicle and pedestrian during arrival and dismissal times.


During our School Council meeting this week, we discussed the new school construction project.  A question was raised about the school communities’ awareness of the progress being made on the project.  In an effort to inform the larger school community about the new school construction progress, I am sharing the link to the project that is currently located under the school committee section of our district website.  Information on the project is located at florencerocheproject.org. Under the agendas, minutes, reports tab, you will find regular updates.  As of this week, the perimeter concrete walls are all in place!


Our grades K-2 teachers across the district were involved in professional learning activities this week.  The preK-8 literacy and mathematics coordinators, Amanda Densmore and Karen Gartland respectively, led these teams of teachers in professional learning on instructional practices.  We are fortunate to have these content based experts on our curriculum and instruction team.  I had the opportunity to see this learning in action as a team of 2nd grade educators observed a model lesson in one of our classrooms.  As educators, we are always learning and growing in our practice in order to be the best we can for our students.  I am proud of the work our staff does in modeling continuous improvement.  

We had an unannounced fire drill this week.  This means that through coordination with our public safety departments, we practice a building evacuation without advance notice given to staff and students.  Without this notification, our students and staff responded according to our designated plan and evacuated the building safely and orderly.  This drill is part of our yearly safety plan that we coordinate with both the Groton Police and Fire Departments. 

Please remember to sign your student up for lunch each day.  There is no charge for school lunch during the 2022-2023 school year.  However, our kitchen team needs an accurate count on how many lunches to prepare.  When more students come through the lunch line than the number of lunches that were ordered, then students end up having to wait for a lunch to be prepared.  Thank you for your help with this process.

Week 1 of the Children’s Sneaker Drive has past.  Mrs. Kinneen is still looking for donations of gently worn sneakers to support a Children's Sneaker Drive to support The Wish Project in Chelmsford during the month of November.  Collection boxes will be in the lobby starting Monday and the Sneaker Drive will run through November 1-14th.

 

I hope you all enjoy the weekend.

Brian